Genuine Fake
by Euphonism
Summary: InuKag. AU. Kagome’s perfect lifestyle is held in place by a big secret. Throw in a prying hanyou bodyguard with an equally questionable background, and watch as it all comes crashing down.
1. The Art of Propaganda

**Genuine Fake**  
by Viitoria

Chapter One: The Art of Propaganda

* * *

Kagome ran her fingers stiffly through her hair, waiting for someone to pick her up at the airport. The sky was clear; the sun shining bright. It didn't seem right for it to be so happy and her to be so miserable. She wasn't on a pleasure trip, no, her therapist had recommended her to get a change of scenery, preferably out of the city. Naturally, her mother didn't have the money to do anything like that.

It was resolved when Souta, ever the annoying brother, suggested that she go visit her father. Her mom had almost gone into shock at his words. While Mai was usually very calm, she blew up at this idea: she just about did every time her ex-husband was mentioned.

Kagome never knew exactly what happened with her parents all those years ago. An argument had sprung up one day and the sparks that had started it never seemed to die. Before she knew it, their bags were packed her dad had moved out to a hotel with her baby brother. It didn't last long, for he was back soon, dumping the infant onto his wife: it had been too much work. Before long, divorce papers were filed and he had moved out permanently.

She blamed her predicament entirely on her parents. After the divorce, Kagome's life had been a huge downward spiral. Their family never had much money to start with, and what with her dad being a former lawyer, he had managed to con the better deal out of the divorce, leaving his wife and children with barely enough to get by.

The wind picked up, blowing strands of her hair into her face. She shivered, wishing that she had worn pants, or at least a longer skirt. Tossing the strands back in their place, she caught a boy around her age staring at her. She turned away. She was used to stares—she got plenty of them as a side dish to the scarring comments everyday at school.

She'd spent most of her life under the criticizing eyes of others. After school, she'd had to work sweeping and cleaning the street outside a large club. How she watched the upper-classes guardedly, trying not to let her wanting show through. All she got were disgusted looks and an occasional pity coin tossed her way.

Life at school was hardly better. In middle school, when she still had all her pride and confidence in tact, she had stood up to a boy who was being picked on by the older students. How was she supposed to know they were the popular clique? After that, she was made fun of as well. It didn't help that the boy she'd supposedly rescued became enraptured by her. Everyday after that he'd give her some stupid, useless present, like a daisy or some leaf from a mulberry tree. She turned it down with a sarcastic comment everyday. He just didn't seem to get the message. Not that the boy had the brains to understand that, either.

In high school, it had only gotten worse. With how small the town she lived in was, everyone knew everyone else's business, and she became the school pincushion, what with the guy being too stupid to be any fun picking on. And she had to take it all with a smile on her face. Her mother didn't even notice at all, and as for her dad, he could very well be nonexistent.

So one day—her sixteenth birthday, to be exact—all her pent up anger blew up. Word of her birthday had gotten around, and as a gift, the student body had decided to play some particularly nasty tricks on her. That day, caked in some unknown substance, she had walked in on her mom frenching some real estate guy, having completely forgotten about her daughter's birthday. She blew up right then and there, not caring that it had taken almost a year to save up the money to get that television set. By the end of her tantrum, the new screen of the TV was fractured and an old family heirloom lost outside the window.

Her mom had apologized profoundly and didn't even blame her for the destroyed items, but she had only bitten her head off. Souta came home the broken television and had a little tantrum of his own. She flared out at him, too, smacking him across the cheek. Her mother didn't forgive her for that. With their saved up money, she paid for her to go to a therapist. Which was why she was stuck here now, in a completely foreign setting waiting dumbly for a ride that was probably not going to come.

She glanced back at the boy, who spotted her looking and quickly turned away. She noticed that he was sort of cute, with what perfectly a chiseled face and his hair tied in a high ponytail. She noted his pointed ears. _A youkai, _she realized. At school, she had overheard some of the popular girls bragging about their rich youkai boyfriends. They tended to drift towards the bustling cities like Tokyo, and even those that did live in her town didn't go to the public school there.

According to her history teacher (in the occasional times she wasn't too depressed to listen), the Youkai used to be considered enemies to men. However, after some war or the other—a lesson she hadn't bothered to pay attention to—and only the strong youkai, or rather those who had human form, survived. With their superior instincts, they merged into human culture and grew rich off the centuries they outlived their more mortal counterparts. She knew most of them lived just like humans, but the ones she'd heard of were always rich and glamorous.

Someone tapped her shoulder; she stiffened and took a defensive stance. A smiling man dressed in a chauffeur's uniform greeted her. "Excuse me miss, are you Miss Higurashi?"

Did she do something wrong? "Y-yes," she stammered out.

He continued to smile. "Please follow me. Your father sent me to bring you to his house."

Her eyes widened. She was living in the slums and her father could afford personal chauffeurs? There was definitely something wrong here. "Um, my bags," she told the driver a few steps later.

The man paused. "Oh yes." He turned right around and picked up both her suitcases at once before leading on again. "Excuse me again, Miss Higurashi, but do you mind not telling your father about this? He doesn't like blunders."

"Of course." She frowned. _A blunder? Not telling my father about something as small as that?_ Not for the first time in her life, she wondered what her dad was like now.

When they stopped in front of a black limo, Kagome shouldn't have been surprised, though she was. Mildly. Things might be better than she thought.

Things just got better and better. It turned out that her father lived in a house big enough to be considered a mansion, with the grounds to match.

She marveled at the expanse of property, not even realizing when they had stopped. The door was opened for her and she was helped out of the car. Someone else—most likely a butler—escorted her to the door, which was opened by a maid. From there she was taken to what she suspected was a parlor, complete with a piano and lace decoration which could not have been possibly chosen by a man. Was he married?

The maid showed her a seat and politely bade her to wait. "The master will be down in a little while."

Kagome nodded mutely and took in the rich surrounding. "Are they usually so formal?" she wondered.

"No, miss. We usually take a lighter tone, but today we were instructed to be the best since the master's daughter was coming."

"Huh?" She hadn't realized she had spoken aloud. Under any other circumstance, she would have gotten annoyed for being made to wait, especially by her father, but everything had been such a delightful surprise that she didn't really mind.

Footsteps informed her that someone was coming down stairs. The maid stood up straighter and dusted off her skirt. Not knowing what to expect, Kagome did the same, but remained seated. The man that came in was more formal than she remembered, but if anything, seemed younger. For one thing, she remembered him as a balding, potbellied man from pictures to a visit to the zoo when she turned six—their last trip together. Now he had a full head of hair again and a remarkably well-toned body on a man ten years older. He was wearing a business suit even in his own home—providing this really _was_ his house. Kagome still found it a bit unbelievable.

"Kagome," he acknowledged with a nod and a smile. "Long time no see."

She stood up. "Father?"

"The one and only," he replied. "Come give your old man a hug." Feeling better than she had in a long while approached her lost parent and gave him an awkward squeeze.

"I hear that you've had some problems," he admonished once they were both seated in the huge dinning room table for lunch. She nodded, still filling a bit alien. He sighed and took a sip a wine, dabbing at his mouth when he was done. "I tried to talk to Mai about taking you into custody now that you were a bit older, but she wouldn't hear of it."

Her father had tried to take her in? Why had her mom denied her all this? She felt the beginning sparks of her still smoldering anger at her mom flare up again. "She never told me," she said carefully.

He shrugged. "Your mother was always one to keep secrets."

She nodded agreement and picked at her beautifully arranged salad with it's fancy Italian dressing. The price of the meal, might have been able to cover the tuition of half a year at her school. _Why didn't mom let me come to dads? Just because of some stupid grudge of hers, __I had to suffer everyday of my stupid life._

"Dad?" she asked, testing. When he smiled to show that he was listening, she continued. _Mom never paid attention to me when I tried talking to her. She was always busy doing something else._ But then again, her mother did have to juggle three jobs. _Not if she'd let dad help,_ she countered herself. "Um, when did you become so-so—"

"Rich?" her father supplied. She nodded again. Chuckling, he put down his fork. "I used to be a lawyer, as you might have known, but you mother didn't like the practice; said it was tricking honest people out of their money. So I quit the practice when I married her. That's why we were always struggling when we had you. But now that we're...separated, I picked up the practice again. I just happened to pick up the right clients. So here I am." He flashed a smile at her. She smiled back.

"So...I signed you up for Tamagawa. Is that okay? They're supposed to be really good. It's private, so there shouldn't be any lesser beings bother you." He said it jokingly, but to Kagome, it was exactly what she always wanted. No one to bother her—to start over anew. And this time, she wouldn't make the same mistakes she had.

The week passed quickly, and how wonderful it was. She was the daughter of a rich and successful lawyer in a private school, and that's how she was treated. Kan, the chauffeur, drove her to school everyday. With a new and fashionable wardrobe, her style changed dramatically. No longer was she an embarrassment to herself. She had boys hanging onto her words, she had a group of her own popular friends, who had accomplished so much more than the snobs of her old school. It was perfect, heavenly bliss.

Until the week ended abruptly. On Sunday, she had planned to go to see the new American film with her newfound friends when Akera the maid informed her that she was going home today. She must have fainted in shock, for when she woke up, she was surrounded by a worried staff. Dazed, the trip home passed quickly.

Then it was back to the old torment, the old life. The bullying, the embarrassment, the arguments...

* * *

**A Year Later:**

As quietly as he could, Inuyasha opened the door. He hoped this was like those movies where the protagonist never got caught for the first three times they tried sneaking back in from a forbidden outing. Unfortunately for him, this was the not one of the first three times. In fact, in wasn't even the fourth or fifth time he'd done this. He was doing this on a nightly bases since his father and brother left on their 'bonding business trip'.

The light clicked on. "I can explain mom," he said quickly.

"I'm sure you can," a distinctly male voice said. He gulped and looked towards the figure one the couch, and there, with a false smile pasted on, was his older brother. "Though if you're implying that I'm a woman..."

Inuyasha let out his breath and brushed his comments aside. "Good thing it's not dad," he muttered to himself and rushed up the stairs.

"Inuyasha!"

"Tell me later, Fluffy! I got more important things to do," he yelled back over his shoulder.

Downstairs, Inutaisho Takagi frowned and looked to his elder son. "Fluffy?" he asked, eyebrow raised.

Still scowling at his younger brother, Sesshomaru shook his head. "We're not even going to go there. That's between me, mom, and because he's an eavesdropping git, Inuyasha."

"Mom, huh?"

The younger Takagi turned his glare on his father. "Don't even try. Anyway, I think Inuyasha thought I called his name, so that means he called _you_ Fluffy. Now go ground him till he's a hundred or something. I'm getting a coke." He stood up and stretched, not bothering to cover a yawn.

"I'll go talk to him—but coke? Don't you mean Pepsi?"

"I thought we had this argument on the 'trip' right after the _car-mel_ vs. _car-a-mel_ thing," he replied as he walked away. "I'm tired, I'm in a bad mood, and I'm acting too much like you and Inuyasha for my own good. I need a drink, a shower, then I'm going to the office for some catching up. And maybe I'll have a talk with mom before she comes hunting for me..."

Inutaisho just shrugged and headed upstairs after his other son. He could hear the pounding rock music from the hallway already. _How can he stand the volume? _he wondered. _His eardrums must be breaking five days ago. _Covering his own ears, he entered the room and turned the radio off.

Inuyasha didn't look up; in fact, he didn't even notice the difference. One look at his ears told why right off: he was wearing headphones. Reaching over, he pulled the neon green contraption off. "Hmm," he mused aloud. "These look an awful like the ones I keep in my safe under the floorboards under the bed. In fact, they look like the very same pair. Would you Imagine that."

The hanyou's eyes widened and he quickly shut the album he had been looking through. "Dad! I didn't know you're home."

"You knew 'Fluffly' was home."

He giggled nervously, looking from the album to his father. "It's an interesting name, don't you think?"

His father's arms were crossed and he was smirking; not a good sign if there was one. "Okay Inuyasha, what are you hiding?"

"N-nothing." He stared at the thick maroon carpeting in silence. After a while, he dared a peek at his dad's face; that wasn't a very good idea. "Okay, there's something," he blurted.

"Uh-huh," he was prodded.

"Um, nothing?" Inuyasha knew his secret would be out soon whether he like it or not, but he wanted to keep that moment off as far as possible.

Inutaisho smiled dangerously again. "Your mother doesn't think it's nothing."

His son laughed nervously. "You talked to mom already?"

"No, but I got a call from her the other day. She said you were acting really strange and she suspected a thief in the house at night, or at least one of the servants sneaking in and out. So, you want to tell me or should I tell you?"

"Damn. I think I liked it better when you and Fluffy acted like walking icicles."

His father clicked his tongue. "Watch the language, boy, you're coming with your brother to the Business merger this weekend. We wouldn't want to upset sweet Miss Angelica."

"Well double damn to that walking bag of skin and bones."

As expected, the merger meeting was hell. He was used to being in a suit and tie, but he was definitely not used to mingling with sagging old women and having his ears rubbed and his cheeks pinched. Well, maybe to some extent, but as much as he was put through that day. And the worst was that his brother had lost his good mood from the trip and reverted to the 'walking icicle' he was before. His father on the other hand, had managed to keep the happy-go-lucky lifestyle.

On Sunday he was invited to yet another party, as an _award_ for being such a good little boy at the meeting. However, Inuyasha wanted to know what kind of award would keep him hiding in the little boys room for two hours, trying to avoid the many ex's creeping around.

Of course, his mother apologized with a new Porsche later, but that was just a bribe. With that in mind, the whole weekend was a disaster. Rich was definitely not worth the things you had to put up with it these days, new cars or not.

Monday morning dawned with a new resolution. "I'm going to get a job," Inuyasha announced to his family the next morning at breakfast.

Sesshomaru smirked. "Really? Who're you going to pay this time to work it?" His younger brother shot him a glare.

"I think that's wonderful, dear!" Izayoi inserted, trying to ward off a coming argument.

Inutaisho grunted from behind a newspaper. "It's about time you stuck out on your own."

His wife frowned. "Strike out on his own? Are you sure he's old enough to? I mean, what if—"

"The boy's almost nineteen, that's almost too old to strike out on his own!" he huffed and returned to the article. It was quite interesting, something about a divorce case and an argument over child custody ten years later. He covered a yawn.

Inuyasha cleared his throat. "Excuse me, but I was just leaving."

"Okay, but remember to call when you get there!" His mother instructed before going off to boss over the decorating crew.

"If you need a job, look on page two, local section of yesterdays newspaper."

His plan wasn't working; no one seemed upset. If anything, they all had some happy advice to give him, minus his frozen brother, of course.

"Providing I don't see your face here for a month, I'll fix you up a date with Yura when you come back." So much for that.

"Keh." Inuyasha turned on his heels and left.

Sesshomaru sighed. "So we finally go rid of him."

"Don't be so sure," Inutaisho warned his remaining son. "He'll be back."

"I don't think so, old man, with an offer like mine, I'd think he'll be scarce for at least the month."

He only shrugged and continued reading, taking a sip of coffee in return. Father and son sat in silence for a few moments before the unmistakable sound of Inuyasha breaking his car in front of the house. Flustered, the youngest Takagi mumbled an excuse, "I forgot..."

"Everything?"

"Yeah." He dashed upstairs, and within a few minutes, returned with a duffle bag, leaving just as quickly. "Bye Fluffy. This doesn't count, does it?"

Inutaisho put down his newspaper and looked pointedly at the dubbed Fluffy. "Now what did I tell you? Someone owes me something for loosing a bet."

"That was a lucky guess," Sesshomaru muttered. "And we didn't bet on anything. How did you know, though?"

"Oh, I went through the same phase at his age."

* * *

So, what do you think? My first chapter of my first Inuyasha fanfic is now done. Tell me by **reviewing**, please?

Kagome and Inuyasha will meet in the next chapter, and Kagome will most likely be acting pretty different from how she's portrayed in this chapter...there's a hint about it somewhere in this chapter about why. Inutaisho was such fun to write! Too bad I'll be turning him into that walking icicle the next time he appears. You know, the summary gives more away about the story than this chapter does...

Anyway, one of the main reasons I'm posting this fic is to advertise my new awards site: **Protege**. I'm looking for judges for the Inuyasha section of it. If you're interested in judging for the Awards, read the Rules section on Judging and apply through the form supplied.

http:protege.just-in-dreams.com

-Vii


	2. Daddy's Girl

**Genuine Fake**  
by Viitoria

Chapter Two: Daddy's Girl

* * *

"What a potty mouth, we can't have you scaring away the customers." And with that, the door to another job closed in his face. 

All his life, he'd been deluded. To think it had taken a week without family around to admit that his people skills were severely lacking. The hanyou sighed, wearily eyeing a newspaper dispenser; that newspaper offer was sounding better everyday. Too bad the said edition of that newspaper went out of print after the Sunday it covered.

Checking his Rolex, Inuyasha decided it was time for a coffee break. Entering a large shop rightfully labeled 'Coffee City', he dropped into the nearest seat. A short, balding waiter approached him, staring wistfully at his head full of long platinum hair. "What would you like?"

"Latte." He didn't feel up to using more than one-worded sentences.

"Would that be all?"

He nodded, checking his wallet. Two pieces of paper stared back at him. Why had he been so stupid to leave his credit cards at home? _Oh yes, I wanted to show my family up._ It was just too sad that he was running out of cash before he'd even gotten close to a successful interview. Maybe he should go back home with his tail between his legs...

Scanning the rest of the shop lazily, he spotted a haggard across the shop, reading an old newspaper. It might just have been his keen eyesight, but something told him it was last Sunday's edition. With renewed exuberance, he made his way over. "How much d'you want for the paper?"

The old man looked up at him in confusion. "What, you want to read it?"

"Yeah. So how much to you want?"

He gave a scratchy chuckle. "You want to pay me for this old thing?" At Inuyasha's nod, the man folded up the articles and shoved it into the young youkai's hands. "Take it; I have another at home."

The hanyou tilted his head to the side, as if trying to figure out the catch. "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you giving it to me for free? And why do you have so many copies of it?"

The man shrugged. "There's an article concerning family on the second page, it's only natural I'd want to keep it; good or not." He stood up and beamed a gruff smile. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get going now."

Inuyasha didn't even bother to see if he really left or not, so eager was he to read that article that had caught his father's attention a week ago. He frowned as he read—what kind of job came out from a law case involving a divorced couple fighting over the custody of their kid ten years after divorce? The typical kind, that's what. Well, to him, if it paid well, he was up to it. He just hoped the girl wasn't one of those flirty snobs; after all, if this was a rags to riches story, then she should be pretty nice.

He didn't know just how close or far off he was.

...............................

Akera had been working under her employer for five years already, and it was never a relief when he brought a woman home. Like all snobs, they treated her like dirt. When she found out about his daughter visiting, she had been skeptical. However, the girl turned out remarkably well. No attitude about money and as polite as anything.

At least for the first week.

The maid had begun to see the changes in the girl after attending the first few days of school. She'd begun to pick up that annoying better-than-thou moodiness often found in these kind of people. Akera was relieved when the girl left, that way she couldn't be stained further. But like all things turn out, they usually end up with the worst possible results.

With a long sigh, she bent down and picked up the glittering object near the garbage bin. It was a bracelet that had been given to her by one the many young men she'd picked up during the year here. When she'd first received it, she'd gone out of her way to flaunt it in front of her. Apparently, she had tossed it at the garbage the moment she reached her room.

Not for the first time, Akera wondered how corruption and money seemed to walk hand in hand with the children of this age and time.

The unmistakable sound of the suite's main door sliding open signaled Kagome's arrival. Akera took it as a sign to leave. As she did, she caught the end of a peal of laughter, most likely from the Miss's friend Eri. Or was it the Miss herself?

"So...it worked, didn't it?" The petite girl's opaque gray-blue eyes glittered with anticipation.

Her father nodded. "Of course." His mask of perfect fatherly understanding was slipping. It was fun to have a daughter during the first months or so, but a year with the demands of shopping, attention, and money was growing irritating. He hoped that this new request would satisfy the teen's growing appetite. "They're all here, waiting for you to choose."

Kagome gave a quick peck on his cheek and dashed down the stairs, her hips swaying just the way her new friends had taught her. Barefooted and dressed in a short black skirt, her hair curled and tossed aside to expose a delicate white neck, she was the perfect picture of synthetic innocence.

Just a weeks ago, she had convinced her father to publish the article on them to find a 'companion' for her. After all, if all her friends had cute bodyguards milling around them, why shouldn't she? "_A youkai one," _she had decided on earlier with Eri. "_With exotic looks."_

_"Hmmm...silver eyes and black hair?" Eri had questioned._

_"Nope. Probably red hair and black eyes."_

Passing Akera, she paused. "Have Eri and Yuka come yet?" she demanded sharply.

"Yes, miss," the maid replied, clearly stifling her feelings.

Kagome ignored it and continued with her interrogation. "Well? Where are they?"

"In the parlor, miss, waiting for you." Without so much as a thanks, she turned and sped off in the direction of the said place.

"Kagome! Don't run like that; it makes you look too eager," her friend told her when she arrived.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "You coming?"

"Of course." Getting up gracefully, the two other girls followed her to the room. "I want to choose the perfect one. I don't want one of those stuffed dummies Yura's so fond of getting."

"So what do you want? It's the fashion, you know, to be calm and collected," Yuka injected. "And if you had a rowdy bodyguard, wouldn't you need to get another to protect you from the first one?"

She laughed. "Well, to hell with that fashion—I don't want some walking Popsicle following me around."

"Yeah, I guess it isn't all that great."

...............................

Waking up Sunday morning near noon, Kagome decided on a shower before proceeding with the day. Letting the water run off her, she imagined it taking all her guilt away. No sad images of her mom and Souta could dwell in her mind right now—no, that was her old life. The new life she led was much better than...she wouldn't go there.

Instead, she thought about the interviews yesterday. Her father had hired someone especially to handle the job of everything; she and her friends had only been there to check them out. She really couldn't make up her mind who she wanted. Hot, most of them were, but all seemed to be those Popsicles she'd sworn off.

She turned off the water and slipped into a bathrobe, letting her matted hair hang wet and uncombed behind her. The maids could fix it up later.

With that thought through, she flopped onto the big couch downstairs and flipped on the tv. Why didn't they have anything good on Sundays? Of all things could have watched on the big set, she settled down to watch the news in digital quality. Something about the growing amount of homeless people. For a moment, the camera had panned down towards a boy that reminded her of her younger brother.

Raised voices were floating through from the front door; she had forgotten to close the doors. But who would bother arguing with the butler? Her answer came storming up a few moments later. Silver tresses trailed to his hips, amber eyes blinking in shock as they rested on her.

She looked down. _Oops_. A bathrobe was not a great thing to greet Youkai visitors in first thing before lunch. "Hey." She gave her best smile, all the time thinking how fun it would be to show off someone who looked like _that_ off. "Were you looking for something?"

"You're Higurashi?" he demanded once he had recovered from his initial surprise. At her nod he crossed his arms over his chest. "I saw the article in the newspaper."

It just got better and better didn't it? Kami must have been in a good mood. "You're looking for the job?"

"Maybe."

She took that as a yes. "You want the job?"

"Are you offering?"

"Sure." She patted the couch next to her. "Sit a bit and we can go over everything."

He saw a familiar glint in her eyes. As he had been afraid of, he'd just been hired by a horny airhead. But if she had only been that, he might have been able to handle it. Unfortunately, it ran a bit deeper than that, even if the girl herself didn't recognize it.

"Okay," she continued. "Then I'll just call the agent—he has the contract." Leaning over to pick up the phone, he couldn't help but admire her curves. Like he said, he she was only a horny airhead who he'd never met before. Too bad he remembered her humiliating him in public.

It was during the chain of parties he'd sneaked out to that got him in this whole mess. And the people up there had a wonderful sense of humor for him to end up working for this person. It stated at the beginning of the month, when he'd had a run-in with his old friend Kouga.

Apparently, wolf-boy had managed to get a new girlfriend. Naturally, it was another rich girl. Somehow or the other, he had also found out about Inuyasha's current state of relationships, or lack thereof. In a moment of hotheaded pride, a bet had been made out with him in the worst possible stand. He had lost, naturally, and been punished to finance Kouga's train of parties for a month.

Of course, he wouldn't pay for all of these if he didn't get to go to all of them himself. He had been watching a girl the whole time, and she seemed pretty nice the one time he'd spoken to her. By the second week he had gotten to know her pretty well. She the whole package—intelligent, smart, and polite. Plus, she seemed to like him, too. So after a few dates, he began to look forward to the night parties.

Until he saw that strange news report about the construction accident where a girl was killed. The profile picture shown resembled her so much that it was uncanny. Except he knew it wasn't her because he saw her that night at the Club. Only she didn't so much as look at him; she was too busy hanging off Kouga's arm. It seemed that she'd gotten a hair-cut...

The next night (even though it was his time of the month), he approached her while she was getting a drink. He asked her about last night, but instead of apologizing politely and clearing things up, she looked at him like he was demented. When he pressed the subject, she'd called wolf-boy. What resulted burned with embarrassment on his mind.

"Sign here, here, and here." He did as he was bid mindlessly, still lost in thought. Was it really her? Why did she pretend not to recognize him? Or...

A giggle broke through his thoughts. He looked up into wide gray-blue eyes and frowned. She was supposed to have brown ones. "Ready?"

"Ready for what?"

"Shopping! You're starting the job today—see?" She pointed a long manicured nail at the papers and pen in his hand. "You just signed it! So are you coming or not?"

"What? —Oh." He stared at the sheaves of paper. "Let me read through it first."

Her smile wavered. "But you've already stared at them for the last half an hour I was here." He had? "Now hurry up; you're going to make Kouga wait."

He blanched. "Kouga," he repeated. "What are you doing with that moron?"

She was beginning to look annoyed now. He may not be a Popsicle, but... "He's my boyfriend, if you don't mind. I thought you were hired help here, act like it."

"Watch it, bitch," he growled. She didn't hear, apparently, as she had already gone upstairs to retrieve some accessories or the other. Still pissed, he turned around and scanned the contract. His eyebrows rose considerably. _Three month probation period? _That meant he couldn't quit until after that, or he wouldn't get paid. That also meant he was stuck with that annoying bitch for the entire time. Damn Kami and everything he made.

Coming down the stairs, the said bitch was telling off her maid while she brushed the last of the knots out of her hair. "Ow. Be careful, will you?" she snapped at the poor woman. "I'm suing if I so much as find a split end." One could never do without money and snobbery, no?

"And you," she twiddled a finger his way. "We're going to the mall."

"I thought you were going to visit Kouga the moron."

"I am," she replied, as if the added name had slipped right passed her. _Airhead. Figures. _"And that reminds me: what's your name?" She waved the maid away as she slid her bare feet into a pair of strapless sandals. In a short golden skirt, he couldn't help but admire her legs.

"Hmm?"

"You're name," she replied. "As in the little title they give you at birth to separate you from all the other little babies born at the hospital. You know what a hospital is, right?"

"Damn right I know what a hospital is." Had the little twit just told him off in that tone? "And the name's Inuyasha, for your information, wench."

"Excuse me," she muttered. "But I was under the influence that you're the serving wench here. After all, I hired you, didn't I?"

He snarled a "Keh," and shoved past her out the door. So much for getting a dumb airhead. This one had to be able to shoot witty replies back.

Behind him, his new boss smiled to herself.

'Shopping,' as the girl had called it, was actually carousing the mall with her friends, endlessly giggling at things only other rich snobs would understand.

"Kagome!" One of them had called to her when they first entered the large mass of buildings. He had frowned, confused at who she was calling to before he realized it was the girl's name. But wasn't her name originally something else? It was only then that he fully took in and understood that she wasn't the same girl he'd met the first night at the party. _So Kikyo really died?_

Not wanting to dwell on the new information, he focused on the conversation the four girls had begun. "So this is him?" A wavy-haired brunette gave him a once over. "Sort of broody, don't you think?"

"Is he?" Kagome turned around and glanced at him. "Oh, he's probably just pissed about earlier."

Eyes narrowing, he opened his mouth to speak. "You know, not everything revolves around you bitch."

One of the girl gasped. "You let him talk to you like that?"

She just shrugged and smiled even wider. "I know that," she told him brightly, winking flirtatiously. "Unfortunately, you seem to think so. After all, you've been staring at me the whole time, haven't you Inuyasha?"

"Nice one. I see why you don't want Popsicles now."

"You got that right, Eri. Now Ayumi, come look at this dress." Apparently, his 'mistress's' attention had already been spent and captured by some worthless item. However, he didn't see her watching him carefully out of the corner of her eye.

"—wait," the one called Eri pulled her back. "Yuka, you were talking about the Takagi family the other day, right?" Inuyasha paled. "Didn't they have a son called Inuyasha?"

The remaining girl nodded. "Yeah, and they have trademark platinum hair and Inuyasha's supposed to be a hanyou." She looked towards him. "You're a hanyou, aren't you."

It seemed as if he had gotten caught. Why oh why did his dad have to get himself so well known and rich? Instead of replying with an excuse, he said the best thing that one could say in situations like these. "Keh."

"That would be a 'yes,'" Kagome clarified. "Or a 'whatever', depending on what you said."

He turned on her then. "You think you know me all that well, wen-bitch," he corrected himself, remembering her last comeback. She just laughed at him.

Yuka spoke up again. "Uh, Kags, just letting you know, the Takagi family are—"

"I know what they are," she interrupted. "But Inuyasha signed the contract papers, so he's going to be under my thumb for at least three months." She turned back to the store window she had been looking at. "And," she continued, as if trying to rub salt in his wound, "If he had to look for a job, that must mean he's gotten in some kind of trouble. Rich parents don't just abandon their kids like that." _Except mine_, she added to herself.

Inuyasha couldn't help notice that she had taken a sad undertone at the last sentence. Keeping it in mind to get revenge at a later date, he approached her. If she wanted to play dirty, then so would he. "Well you would be one to know, wouldn't you? Being a daddy's girl and all—after all, that's all you can be."

"Are you implying that I don't have a mother?" she asked defiantly.

He smirked; it had gotten her. "Well, I haven't caught a shadow of anyone resembling one, unless she was the maid," he responded coolly.

Her mouth twitched, as if she was ready to lash out at him with all her anger. To his surprise, however, she stopped and caught something over her shoulder. Mouthing something quickly, she returned to glare at him.

"What were you staring at?" he demanded.

"Well, well, what do we have here? Takagi, huh? What are you doing with my girl?" Kagome bristled slightly at the last sentence, but turned with her friends to see group of young men. The speaker was a boy a few years older than her, his ebony hair pulled back and caught neatly in a piece of twine. _The newest fashion_, Inuyasha recognized. _To use animal accessories, be it fur, leather, or twine._

"Wimpy wolf, what a pleasant surprise."

* * *

Second chapter out...don't you love summer? I actually have the time to do these kind of things for fun! And remember that if you leave your email, I'll be able to reply to your reviews. Anyway, I plan to make this a short story, with about 6 chapter; 8 at the most. Now I want to get started on that other plot bunny I have. 

And if you're wondering why Kagome is acting so out of character, that will be explained in the next chapter. After all, her acting like this a big part in the plot...actually, I think it basically makes up the plot.

Don't forget to **review** and visit my site! If you're interested in being a judge, just tell me and leave your email in a review or go to the site. Don't add www. in front of it.

protege.just-in-dreams.com

-Vii


	3. Instant Noodles

**Genuine Fake**  
by Viitoria

Chapter Three: Instant Noodles

* * *

"Dog-turd, you're just jealous that I have a girlfriend and you don't," Kouga thrust smugly. 

The hanyou smirked. "No, I'm just surprised you got one after what happened with the last one."

The wolf youkai's face clouded slightly, but quickly reverted to his arrogant expression. "What happened with the last one, huh?"

This had been going on for quite some time now; the two tossing insults back and forth, ready to jump at the other's throat at a moments notice. Kagome was getting irritated—attention was all good and fine, but it wasn't focused on her. That meant there was nothing to distract her from the guilty thoughts that bombarded her every time she didn't have something to focus on. One would think the fight would be a big distraction, but the teenager found it disturbing. She hadn't heard people arguing for a while now.

Unnoticed, she slipped out of the ring of preps and walked towards one of the big department stores imported from America. Leaning against the railing, she slipped into quiet remembrance.

_"If you hadn't been so over-possessive we wouldn't have been in this mess!" Her father was yelling at her mother._

_"Over-possessive!?" The woman threw up her hands. "You have no right to call me over-possessive—what about you? You won't even hand over the money for me to go the grocers. No, you insist you'll handle it yourself. You're just a greedy ex-lawyer. I wish I'd never married you."_

_The six-year-old Kagome had walked in on the scene after getting up for a drink of water. Now huddled in the corner, she was amazed at her mother, usually so placid and calm, yelling as if her life depended on it at her father. It was unfamiliar, and therefore, scary._

_"Well, if you'd never married me, what would have happened to Kagome?"_

_"Don't you dare bring her into this! You know that she's your child and I never went behind your back—that was you. It was always you!" Peering out from her shelf, she caught sight of sparkling tears rolling down her mother's face._

_He snorted. "That girl's more useful than you are. What about the boy then? You won't even let me near him anymore."_

_"You're drunk," her mother accused. "You're always drunk these days. I know you've started smoking again, too."_

_"What do you care, woman?" With that, her father turned and stomped out of the house._

_It was that night that he left with Souta. It was the last night she'd see him for almost ten years. And it was then she would become the horrible monster that—_

"Higurashi..." a smooth voice cut off her thoughts. Caught unawares, she took a step back, almost tripping on her heels in the process. Looking up, she stared into the eyes of her former abusers.

The girl who had spoken laughed. "Still as clumsy as ever, it seems." Around her stood the rest of the crowd that had bullied Kagome just a year ago at her former school. The girl, whom she recognized as Hari, was one of the ringleaders. Fear gripped her hear for a moment, but she forced herself to become calm.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, slowly rising and brushing her skirt off.

Hari snorted signaled for one of the others to knock her down again. For one of the few times in her newfound lifestyle, Kagome wished she had worn more sensible shoes oppose the the expensive spiked sandals.

The girl shook her finger at her. "Naughty girl; speaking to us like that." Raising her heel to step on the fallen girl, her sister stopped her. "Ruri?"

The darker haired of the sisters leaned down a pulled at Kagome's gold dress. "It seems as if our little beating sack managed to sprout some expensive tastes." Standing up, she motioned at the shoes. "I saw those in the Foreign Catalogues—they're not even on sale here yet. She must have sold her mother to buy it. Not," she added slyly, "that her mother would be worth enough for them."

If anything could blow on Kagome's temper, it was that. Pushing herself quickly up again, she advanced on the two. Raising her hand to slap them, she was amazed that no one stopped her.

"Go on," Ruri prodded. "Just try it."

Lifting her head a bit higher, she complied. Time seemed to slow as she heard the satisfying crack her her hand on the girl's face. But the moments after that went all to fast. A boy—who she distinctly remembered as Menomaru—grabbed her away and pulled her arm behind her, twisting it against the small of her back. "Girl, you seriously want to be hurt, don't you?"

Kagome shivered. It had been so long that she'd almost forgotten about all this... Closing her eyes, she waited expectantly for a blow to come. None did.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

She opened an eye, looking to see who had spoken. To her surprise, it wasn't Kouga, but her new 'companion'. She let out a small whimper, trying to gain some pity points.

He turned away from her gaze to Menomaru. "Do you want me to repeat myself?"

The other boy gave a short, barking laugh. "You're going tell me what to do? Who're you supposed to be, some want-to-be punk rocker?" He looked the hanyou's choice of attire scornfully.

Inuyasha shrugged. It wasn't his fault that Kagome hadn't given him time to breathe, nevertheless change into a better outfit. He had figured that trouble would be more hesitant at bothering him on the streets when he seemed a bit more rough and riled. "And yours is better?"

He let go of his 'boss'. "Why you—" Inuyasha saw the fist coming from a mile away, and easily blocked it. His guess had been dead on: the pretty boy really took comments on his dress apparel to heart.

"What? What am I?" He mocked. He hadn't had this much fun for a while now.

"Inuyasha!" Damn that Kouga fool. "You can't just run off and get into another fight. It's not polite, you know."

Dodging another swing from the Prep boy, Inuyasha threw a finger at his former adversary. "At least I'm polite enough to keep your little girlfriend out of trouble," he yelled.

"You little—wait. What did you say about my girlfriend?"

"It's true," Ayumi seconded him. "Those idiots were picking on Kagome." She threw a shielded glance at the said girl, who colored slightly and stared down at the ground. The whole group had come over. Stealing a glance at Ruri and Hari, she saw that they were openly staring. She felt a little better for it. Just a little.

By now, Inuyasha had pulled both of the other boy's arms behind him, in the style that he had held Kagome just a few minutes ago.

Taking a calming breath, Kagome raised her head. "Takagi, dispose of him for me, kay?" It was an order, not a question. Then, turning to face Hari and Ruri, she flashed them her best smile. "You got anything to say?"

"No."

She frowned. "No?" Whirling, she watched Inuyasha release his prisoner.

"That's what I said; you deaf, bitch?" He smirked as Menomaru cursed at him, rubbing his sore arms. For some reason, Kagome suspected the smirk on her bodyguard's face was really directed at her.

Someone snickered behind her—the sisters, obviously. She would deal with them later. "Excuse me, Takagi, but I thought I heard you say 'no' to a order I just gave you." She smiled her best again.

"You heard right. Though, of course, with your hearing..."

Kagome's temper flashed for a moment, before she reverted to her old self. Nodding she said, "Fine. We'll talk at home." Walking up to Kouga, she gave a small pout. "Kouga, can you help me?" she pleaded.

He melted instantly. "Of course. You're my woman after all." He didn't see his woman twitch slightly or her bodyguard scowl as he gave her a quick peck on the lips and headed for the trio. Signaling at his buddies, they cornered the three.

"You gonna leave, or what?"

Muttering curses under his breath, Menomaru pulled the two still staring girls off. The wolf youkai crossed arms over chest with a satisfied smile.

...............................

"Why did you do that?" She demanded on the ride back.

"Do what?" her companion asked in feigned ignorance.

She glared at him. "Why. Did. You. Let. Menomaru. Go? Do. I. Need. To. Spell. It. Out. For. You?"

"No. What you're doing right now is pretty funny."

She scowled. "Shut up before I tear those fuzzy ears to shreds."

"I'd like to see you try," he scoffed. "No one touches the ears."

_We'll see about that. _And as if hearing her thoughts, the hanyou's ears twitched. She giggled and turned away. "Okay, I'll let it go this time...but only because you look so damn cute like that."

On the other side of the car, a certain dog-boy was planning revenge for that line.

* * *

**A Month or Two Later:**

For the first time in almost a year, Kagome pushed open the door before the butler could. Or rather, she flung it open rather violently. Kicking off her sandals, she took the stairs two at a time. Maids winced as the sliding doors to her suite were slammed open, shaking the walls. "Takagi!"

Still outside, the said young man was walking at a deliberate slow pace, hands in his pocket, pretending to be without a care in the world. Needless to say, the butler stared. "Um, excuse me sir, but the miss—"

He waved the warning aside. "The 'miss' can yell herself hoarse before I go up there." Not bothering to remove his shoes, he strolled into the main hall. The yell came again. Glancing up nonchalantly towards the voice, he walked off in the other direction, which coincidentally happened to be the way to the kitchen.

Upon stumbling across the treasure trove, and in spite (or maybe because) of the cook's protests, he pulled open the large fridge, rummaging around for a good bite. "Cheesecake, wine, strawberries...Is there anything good around here?" he murmured to himself. Closing the fridge, he turned on the cupboards and commenced his search.

A few more murmuring, some broken dishes, and a lot more yells from his boss later, he finally found what he wanted. "Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed happily as he pulled two packs of Instant Noodles from the shelf. "Eh, you there," he said, meaning the cook. "Got any hot water around?"

Flustered and head spinning from the mess, the cook pointed at the hose. The hanyou snorted. "Not likely. Guess I'll have to make some myself," he shook the foam container in threat.

"No!" was the cook's instant reply. "Near the coffee maker, next to the fridge, you'll find it in the off-white thermal. Not the white one; that was has tea."

Flashing his most devious canine smile, Inuyasha nodded his thanks. "I knew you'd see it my way sooner or later." Humming quietly to himself, he filled the two containers of Ramen to the brim with water and covered them again.

Some banging outside alerted him of someone's approach. "Inuyasha Takagi, what the _fuck_ are you doing?!"

Takagi clicked his tongue and wagged his finger. "Little girls shouldn't say bad words like that."

"To hell I won't," she snarled, egged on by his comment. "Now if you're not a total ass, and apologize on your knees, I might excuse you for not coming the up when you heard me!"

Inuyasha thought about it for a moment. "Nope," he finally responded. "I just remember that I _am_ a total ass. Sorry; no apology today."

"Fuck you," the girl told him through clenched teeth.

"Nope, can't do that if I'm unwilling, can you now?" Years of trading insults with an older and more lethal brother came in handy now and then. "Oi, cook-person. My food ready yet?" He asked, ignoring the sputtering female.

Mumbling something or the other, the cook stormed out of the kitchen. "Girl, you want some Ramen?"

"No thank you," Kagome spat and walked out after the cook as elegantly as she could. She would never stoop as low as to trade insults with him again.

Back in the kitchen, now nosily slurping his nectar and honey of the mortal world, Inuyasha chuckled to himself. He considered them tied...now to break it.

...............................

The door slammed open again. This time it was Inuyasha who rushed in first, taking the steps as fast as he could. This time, though, no one winced at the slamming or noticed their furious mistress storming up after them. It was standard practice after the first week, the two of them always after each other like the dogs of hell. The butler didn't even bother approaching the door at the sound of them anymore. Instead, he chose to snack in the kitchen with the cook. Both men had gained a rather suspicious liking for a certain food called Ramen.

The maids only shook their heads, smiling. Since Inuyasha had come, Kagome had been decidedly nicer to them; though that might have been only because the girl spent all her energy yelling at the poor guy (if he could be considered poor; it was usually Kagome one had to give sympathy for. Sometimes.)

Kagome banged on the door of her own room, not noticing how pathetic it would seem to anyone watching. "Inuyasha, you can't keep me out of there forever," she angrily told the closed door.

"Of course I can," came the reply. A maid carrying a load of laundry walked by, turning her head so her mistress wouldn't see her amusement and redirect her anger.

"Okay then, I'll just go down and tell the cook not to restock Ramen this week," she threatened. There was no reply. She frowned, it usually worked...

"Inuyasha!" she called again. "This is pathetic. You're my employee! You can't look me up out of my own room!"

Still nothing. She tried again a couple more times, but to no avail. Finally, she gave up and kicked the door, stubbing her toe in the process. Glaring, she left with one more remark. "If I can't get prepared for school tomorrow, I'm blaming it all on you!"

A raspberry sounded. "School doesn't start until Wednesday!"

Rolling her eyes, the girl made a loud fuss about pretending to go downstairs. _The door should be opening just about now..._

The door clicked open. Or at least it was supposed to. With a dejected sigh, Kagome turned and headed off for the kitchen. She would save her breath for later, when she could really make those ears of his flinch.

Meanwhile, surrounded by a much too large selection of pink interior decorations, Inuyasha was staring moodily at the clock. It wouldn't be long until sundown, and with it would go his youkai side. Pouting, he draped himself carelessly on the big chair, leaning back against a large bookshelf, expecting to fall at any moment.

_5...4...3...2...1...There. _He could feel each tingling limb as all trace of the demon blood ebbed away. His claws disappeared, the twitching ears now dubbed as 'kawaii' by Kagome faded away, and his fangs shrank. He felt weak and exposed; which was all the more reason for him to be barricaded in this room. There was no way he would let anyone here see him like this.

With a sigh, he tilted even further back. This time, he really fell. Books tumbled down on top of him, Kagome's fake plastic trophies landing heavily on the small of his back. A long string of curses left his mouth instantly as he picked himself up.

One last book just had to fall on his head. With renewed annoyance, he kicked he side of the damnable shelf. To his surprise, it slid open, revealing a door. Why hadn't he known about that? Oh yes, he was a lowly bodyguard to an empty-headed freak and it was hidden behind a equally stupid shelf which liked dropping its contents on his heads. He wondered if his imagination had been tweaked with when all that stuff fell on his head.

It was iron-wrought, naturally, and had a combination trigger in the middle of it. It was really too bad that it was there. _And here I was hoping she really was that stupid._

Footsteps were approaching the room—Kagome. Quickly, he pulled the bookshelf back to it's original place and started shoving books into the shelf. The door opened, and true to his expectations, and irate Kagome stood in it's wake. Inuyasha made a fast dash into the bordering room of the suite.

"What are you doing here, bitch?" He growled.

"I heard some crashes in here and I wanted to see if you had died yet," she atoned sardonically, surveying the mess and the chair. She couldn't resist. "I told you so."

"Aw, shut up."

"Well, you're not denying it. I did warn you about crashing like that if you did that with the chair, and see what happened?" She looked around for the hanyou. "Why the heck are you in there anyway; scared?"

Brushing her teasing aside, he steered the conversation (if one wanted to call it that) into a different direction. "How the hell did you get in here anyway?"

The girl waved a key around. "I was hoping you'd ask that. Spare key, no duh."

"Keh." He thought about an escape plan. "Hmmm...you know that weekly break in the contract?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "No, but go on."

"I'm taking that now. Bye!" With that, he left out the convenient exit of the large window. He had stumbled his way down to the balcony below before he saw Kagome run over to look out.

"Idiot," she muttered after him. "He's hiding something; I know it." She regarded the mess in her bedroom with distaste and called for a maid.

After an hour of peace, Kagome had ran out of things to do. She'd forgotten how utterly boring it was at home without someone her age around. Before, she might have called one of her friends, but they were all off spending the last of their vacation days in Hawaii or something.

With her lips in a small pout, she settled in front of the wide screen set with a bowl of freshly made and buttered popcorn. With a touch of a button, she decided to watch good old digital-quality news.

Broadcasts about accidents, funerals, murders, and just about everything else that qualified under the category of 'boring' crossed the screen. It even included a piece about a governor's daughter fined for speeding on an unauthorized motorcycle. She was glad she detested the vehicles and her father was a good old lawyer. Okay, maybe not really good, but rich, and that suited her fine.

Changing the channel, she caught a familiar name: Takagi. She quickly flipped back. To her total amazement, it was covering the youngest son of Inutaisho Takagi's birth, something about it being illegitimate and conceived before marriage; if there ever was a one. Then she realized they were talking about Inuyasha.

After a few more minutes, she reached for the phone. "Can you repress everything from the media about an Inuyasha Takagi and get all you can on his background? —thanks."

* * *

Okay, that's the end of that chapter. I've planned everything out already, and the plot brings me to around 8 chapters, give or take a few paragraphs. It gets a bit more complicated starting next chapter and (I think) has a bit more emphasize on the drama department than the romance one...From what I've planned, I seriously doubt I can fit Sango and Miroku in here, but I might be wrong about that. Hope you like so far and remember to **review**! 

In the meantime, please, please, visit my awards site? I need more judges.

protege.just-in-dreams.com

Ruri, Hari, and Menomaru are from the 1st movie, by the way.


	4. Minesweeper

**Genuine Fake**  
by Viitoria

Chapter Four: Minesweeper

* * *

Inuyasha had wake the butler with the old stone-against-window serenade. It wasn't the most embarrassment-free situation to be in. At first, the man didn't recognize him. But when he responded by demanding at least a cup of Ramen, he was quickly let in. And he got that heavenly food, too. 

Now it was morning and he had finally returned to normal. Stretching, he made it way to Kagome's room and pushed open the door easily and began rummaging around her bookshelf. The girl sat up quickly. "Inuyasha, what the fuck do you think you're doing?" With an afterthought, she added, "Again. At this time of the morning?"

"Well, what time is it?" he demanded back in the same tone. He finger a small book with gold-lined pages, but stuffed it back. So maybe she was too sensible to keep password books in her secret bookcase.

In an equally bad mood, the girl pushed herself out of bed, her pink cotton American Power Puff Girls sleepwear bringing a snicker out of him. No matter how she dressed during the day, or how rich she was, it always got the hanyou at why she would wear those things to bed. He expected some lingerie, at the least.

She took a long look at the digital glow of the numbers. "Eight. That's too early to get up."

Secretly, he agreed, but he couldn't let her know that. He snorted as a way of replying. "Just get up. I'm bored," was his lame excuse.

Kagome shook her head and fell back into her bed, pulling the covers over her head. He paused at his useless search and approached her. He poked her tentatively at the area were he expected her stomach to be. A giggle alerted him that he'd gotten it right.

With a barely suppressed grin, he began his masterful art of tickling. Laughter greeted his work and the contorted face of his boss peered from the covers. "Georoff," she screamed at him between hiccupping giggles.

"I found somebody's secret weakness," he said in singsong.

That only made her laugh harder. "Do—haha—you know—stop!—how utterly—hic—gay you sound?"

He paused, just long enough for her to wiggle out of his hold. "Are you implying I'm gay?" he demanded, hands on hip. "You know what that means, don't you?"

She giggled again, catching her breath. Tears stained her face, making her look like a fallen angel. Inuyasha shook his head. What was he thinking?

"Yes," she replied in total seriousness. "It means you prefer men over woman. Which means your this," she motioned a wiggly line with her arms. "Instead of straight."

Her bodyguard opened his mouth to retort angrily, but changed his mind. Instead, a smirk appeared. "What a disrespectful girl!" he scolded. "And disrespectful girl need to be punished."

She laughed at him, but tightened her grip on a pillow. "Like you can," she taunted and jumped him, hitting him with the fluffy headrest. He in turn dived onto the bed with her and restarted his tickling with renewed cause. In all the chaos, the hanyou instincts inside of him alerted him of an object underneath the mattress. If it was what he suspected...

After a while, they both tired of the game and Inuyasha found his opening when the girl pushed him off to go to the shower. It was moments like these that he almost actually liked her. Almost.

He sat on the mattress a bit longer and made sure the water was running before he swept his arm under it and extracted a small book. Flipping through it at random, he knew it was want he was looking for and a whole lot more than he expected. Shutting the book with a snap, he pocketed it and walked out of the room whistling. The waiting maids outside showered him with disapproving looks.

"Don't worry," he assured them. "I didn't do anything to the 'miss'."

They smiled and walked away. Except one. "You know, we won't hate you if you did," she told him with a wink. "We all know you want to." He raised an eyebrow at her retreating back. What was that supposed to mean?

His curiosity was a distraction that whole day. What would someone like Kagome have to hide? Or was it her dad who was using her room? No, that couldn't have been it if the girl had a password book...but there were enough decoding in there for everything in the whole house. He had known for a long that his 'boss' was more intelligent and took notice of more things than she let on, but he wondered just how much she knew and why she hid it.

That day, she caught him staring multiple times, and he wouldn't have been surprised if she was wondering about just how horny he was after the tickling match. He was asking himself that since he'd noticed that his eyes were lingering—without direction from his brain—on the girl's body a few weeks ago.

It was a relief that night when Kagome decided to sleep in her other suite in the west wing. She didn't require him to be in the same room as her at night anymore (she was oddly insecure, so much that he wondered how she got along before he came), so he was free to roam. With booklet in hand, he entered the Pink Room, righteously dubbed. Making sure to close and lock the door behind him, he pushed the side of the shelf.

Nothing moved. Frowning, he felt around for some release clasp. He found one behind the books that had fell on him the previous night. Pushing it out of the locked position, he tried again. This time is slid open with ease. Typing in the code was easy enough, but he wasn't prepared for the ordinary room beyond that.

The room was, of course, much smaller than most in the entire house. A desk was set in the far corner, a sleek new LCD monitor placed on top of it. A file cabinet rested beside the desk, locked and coded. Everything felt oddly empty. He went in hesitantly, musing at an alarm suddenly going off or security suddenly surrounding him.

By the time he reached the computer and sat down in front of it, a claw poking at the _on_ button, nothing had happened. Nothing would happen. But as planned and expected, multiple password boxes popped up. The book handled everything perfectly and before long, folders never meant to be seen was in front of his view.

Diary. Clips. Media. Unfiled. An innocent menu that could have been found on any site on the internet...so why was it in this computer—in this hidden room? He double clicked the _Diary_ folder, and launched some sort of blogging program. Again, it was password protected. Another code took care of that, as well as a coding prompt.

Before him loaded a simple layout, featuring a flower, labeled 'Flos Adonis' and subtitled 'Painful Recollections'. He frowned and scrolled down. Unlike the online journals he'd seen his niece browse through and read, this one had no comments section, no menu, nor even the year in the date. But then again, this wasn't exactly online, nor easily accessed at all for that matter.

_**January 10th  
Untitled.**_

_Diary__—if indeed this can be considered one. It's more like a forced assignment on me out of school, as if I don't have enough homework already in the first place. And who gave it to my but the stupid Shrink mom paid by taking the reserved funds that were supposed to be for me to go to college. I'm supposed to write all my feelings here; all my angry thought, my happy ones, my hateful ones. All of them. It's supposed to release my of my anger. __At first, because we didn't have a computer, mom wanted me to write everything down. As if I'd do that! But then Souta suggested I go to dad's or something to 'get better'. I'm not sick! But here I am anyway, and what a surprise I've had. Dad's rich. Can you believe...Do I really have to write? It's tedious and annoying._

_**January 13th  
School.**_

_It's so different here. No one treats me like I'm dirt; and everyone's so fun! I went shopping after school with Yuka and Ayumi. My other new friend, Eri, had an appointment with her own Shrink (something about temper tantrums, yeah right. She's like one of the calmest person I know)._

Inuyasha snorted. The girl had been here for less than two days and judging people already? And such stupid, frivolous entries they were. He shook his head and continued.

_**January 17th  
Damn it ALL. I hate my life.**_

_I have to go. My damnable mother is making me go back. I even talked to dad and the Shrink about staying longer, and they all agree. But mother. My _mother_, whose supposed to love me and want what's good for me. She wants me 'back'. I talked to her on the phone the other day, and she mentioned something about my tone, claiming that I had gotten an attitude, and that's what she had been afraid of. She wanted me home right then, back to my old school. —Does she know what I go through over there? I mean__—_

His ears picked up the sound of someone approaching the suite. With a few more taps of the keyboard, he shut down the computer and dashed upstairs, almost forgetting the book. Returning it to it's original hiding place, he resealed everything and exited through the window he had left through last night. Just in time, too, for below, he heard someone open Kagome's door.

It was all very strange. The girl was trying to hide something; he knew that much.

...............................

Wednesday morning dawn cloudy, suiting the mood of countless returning students across the city. Kagome and Inuyasha were two of them. Mostly Inuyasha, since at nineteen (human years), he was supposed to have been out of school already. Unluckily for him, his dad had forgotten to sign him up for Kindergarten. Twice.

Scowling, he shouldered his backpack, tugging at the neck of his uniform. The black ensemble didn't include a bit of red in in; and that annoyed him above all else. "Hey bitch!" he snarled irately. "If you don't get your ass down here, I'm going to drive off without you."

Mr. Higurashi appeared at the top of his stairs. "What did you call my daughter, Mr. Takagi?"

"Nothing," he muttered, but gave the man the finger as soon as his back was turned. "Just something about your daughter being just like you," he added under his breath. He waited impatiently as Kagome kissed her father good-bye and came down.

"Hold your horses, Inuyasha. If I didn't know better, I'd say you wanted to go to school," she mused aloud, taking her time to bend down and fit on her shoes.

The hanyou licked his lips as he stared openly at her. In the short gray uniform, which was supposedly conservative, but in truth was shorter than even her regular skirts, showed off her well-shaped long legs. The folds of the top was pulled tight over small breasts as she turned around to lift the back. Inuyasha leaned over and pulled it out of her grasp, wanting to get out before he had anymore thoughts about the girl's appearance.

"Hey!" she protested.

"What? You want to carry your own pack?" he threw back at her as he unlocked the jeep's doors. He watched as the girl eyed the new vehicle apprehensively. "I didn't steal it," he snapped.

She gave him a strange look. "I didn't say that you did." She got climbed into the shotgun, smoothing her skirts. She gave no reason to why she had been staring earlier. "When'd you get it?" she asked. He had always driven one of hers in the past month.

"The night before last," was his short explanation. When he gave these replies, it meant he didn't want to talk. Kagome nodded and let the silence go on for the rest of the ride. Inuyasha knew where he was going. And she would have her fun at school. Yura was definitely going to be surprised.

They arrived a full half hour early, due to Kagome's instructions from last night; she wanted to talk to her friends before all the book learning started. Pulling up into the nearest parking space, Inuyasha jumped out, locking the doors automatically. Kagome stayed where, she was, watching him expectantly.

He glared at her, but went around and opened the door for her. "Thank you," she told him smoothly, yet another false smile pasted on her face. She could tell he hated it whenever she did this, so all the more reason to do so.

Inuyasha watched with annoyance as she led him to her group of friends. At least wimpy-wolf wasn't there. He watched the drama play out as Kagome met her friends' eyes and they walked off in the direction of a short-haired woman in an all-too-small uniform. He paused. Was that Yura?

"Hey Yura," Eri greeted non-too nicely as she rounded the girl. That confirmed his suspicions. "And Hiten," she winked at a boy with a long braid talking to her. She didn't even bother to acknowledge the presence of the chubby looking guy with thinning hair. But then again, Yura didn't seem too happy with him around, either.

"Hello," the taller girl replied scathingly, clearly irate at being interrupted. She glanced around at the group, eyes narrowing as she lingered on Kagome. Then she turned to him, and they widened immediately. Her cold smile returned almost immediately, though. "What are you doing with them?" she asked as if he was the only one their. "Didn't Sesshy teach you better?"

He turned away with a snort. "Feh." Then he turned back, studying the tall girl. Did they say her name was Yura?

"Hey, don't—"

He interrupted 'the Miss'. "Yura Oni?" After all, how many people spoke about his brother by names like that? Other than him, of course. But she looked different from the photograph. _Not as alluring without the fake light_, he thought. Then he brightened. _That means I can go back without worry; don't think I want a date with her anyway. _He paused. _That won't keep Fluffy from stuffing it back into may face, though._

She clicked her tongue. "Forgot me already? We met at that one place, remember? Some sort of Russian ballet or the other..." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kagome glaring. He smiled: this was going to be fun.

"Oh yes, the boring one. You were wearing that stunning red dress, right?"

The youkai giggled and nodded. "You have a wonderful memory, Inuyasha. I can call you that, right?" She took his hand and pulled him away, oblivious of the glaring crowd she'd left behind. "I'm going to borrow your friend for a while!" Yura waved and called back to the fuming girl she left behind.

Hiten and Manten continued to stare for a while, but Kagome turned and stormed off in the opposite direction. "The nerve of that woman! Who does she think she is?"

Eri gave her a comforting squeeze around the shoulders. "Don't get too worked up about it, Kags. It's not worth giving your temper for; it's just your bodyguard. They're expendable." Kagome should have agreed with the her and calmed down immediately, but she couldn't.

"Yeah, thanks." She'd get him later.

"Next time, you could get the elder Takagi. I've heard that he's so much cuter."

"Too bad he's way out of your league," Ayumi taunted. The short-haired girl whirled around on her friend.

"What are you saying?" she asked, playfully malevolent. "It's not like you could get him either."

Ayumi tossed her curling hair over her shoulder, nose up in the air. "I don't want it. I'd rather have that yummy guy in that Gatorade advertisement."

"What guy? There's none in there." All things regarding Kagome's lost possession was erased from the girls' minds. Sometimes, Kagome just wished her friends would be more understanding. The one friend she had in elementary school had been. Lost in thought, few noticed the usually outgoing girl's silence that day.

Lunch time at Takagawa had never been and will never be a quiet time. But since Inuyasha had sat beside Yura across the classroom that morning, she was ready to be the cause of some of the usual ruckus. The first thing she decided to do as they announced the break in school was pull Inuyasha to the side.

It seemed as if the hanyou had the same thing in mind, since he pushed Yura away as soon as the bell rung. "Kagome, I just wanted to say—"

She held up a hand. "I shouldn't bother listening to you but I'm in a good mood." Not. "So whatever you want to say, you better say it quick."

"Kagome!" Yuka poked her head into the classrom. "You coming? We're going to WacDonald's for lunch today."

She waved her friend off. "Yeah, I'll be there in a bit. Go without me; I can catch up." She turned back to Inuyasha. "You were saying—?"

"As I was saying," he repeated, emphasizing each word, "Fuck off."

The girl's mask fell momentarily, her face twisting in rage, but just as quickly it came back. She took a deep breath and shrugged. "Be that way. Come on, you're driving me to WacDonalds." As she went out the door, he picked up an added remark. "Bet Yura wasn't much fun anyway."

She probably knew just how right she was. He wondered how he could stand to be in the same school as that girl for the rest of the day. She was even worse than Kagome; and _that_ was saying a lot. Lifting his shoulders in a shrug to nobody, he picked up his jacket and raced out, hoping that Yura wouldn't be found until later.

Luck was on neither of their sides as it turned out, for they didn't even get to the car. Kagome was frowning at a large crowd, circled around some scene of the other. "Let's go look," she told Inuyasha as he caught up. She took his hand and pulled him nearer.

He tensed at the motion, but didn't pull away. She wondered why; she'd done it purposely to annoy him. However, the sight of what was inside froze her inside out. Kouga and his friends were grouped around a boy she knew to be called Jenenji. He was cringing as they threw trash at him. Her eyes widened.

"So, Retard, was it? Why are you trying to come to a school like this?" her boyfriend jeered, prodding him with his shoe. "Homeless people like you shouldn't come to schools like this."

"But I have a home," the boy stammered. Kagome winced for him as she saw Kouga's foot move to connect with his stomach. Without thinking, she took a step forward—someone was quicker than her. Another girl rushed forward and pulled Kouga back, to the complete shock of everyone watching.

"Stop," she ordered him. "It's not nice to do things like that."

The wolf demon turned on her, smirking. "And who do we have here, his little girlfriend?" He looked around. "Okay everybody, on the count of three, say 'awww' together." He raised one finger. "One. Two. Three. Awwww."

People were laughing and taunting both of them. Kagome turned away; this was painfully familiar. But at least this time, it wasn't her.

He turned and spat on the boy. "So you got a girlfriend, huh? You should consider yourself lucky...but you don't deserve a girl." He lifted his foot to kick him again. The girl stopped him by pulling forcibly on his hair. Kagome felt a sinking feeling the pit of her stomach; Kouga hated people who pulled his hair. She watched in horror as the girl commenced to slap him.

In the silence that followed, she proceeded to give him a lecture. "How can you call yourself a person?" She snarled. "Do you know—"

Kouga had regained himself and pushed her by the shoulders. "Girl, I usually make it a standard of mine not to hit girls; but you're really pushing it. And you know, I don't like being pushed by bitches like yourself."

"So? What are you going to do about it?" she taunted in the face of the threats. "Hit me, knock me down? Break your standards? Then you wouldn't even be considered worthy of dirt beneath my shoe. You're a total jackass, you know? You and all your friends deserve to go to Hell!"

The look on Kouga's face told her that he was furious enough to actually hurt the girl. Really badly. Once again, her compassion overrode all thoughts and she stepped forward. "Kouga."

All attention turned to her. "What?" he barked, before realizing it was her. His tone changed to a better one. "I'm sorry you have to see this, Kagome, but—"

"Shut up, Kouga." She smiled at him. He frowned back. "Don't you think that's enough?" She walked closer, unknowingly pulling someone with her. She turned to look at the girl and glimpsed a heartwarming grin. It gave her a little more courage in her dropping stomach.

Her boyfriend's eyes narrowed, and then she realized he wasn't looking at her, but her hand. She remembered Inuyasha all too late, and let go of him immediately. Kouga glared at the hanyou, then looked suspiciously at her. "Now, what did you want to say?"

The crowd was pressing closer now, trying to catch the dropped voices. She saw her friends look at her, disapproval showing in their glances. Still, she wanted to tell him how much of a jerk he really was. And what was that word the girl had used—jackass. Yeah, he was that too. But most of all, she wanted to dump him in front of everyone. But what came out of her mouth was a completely different story.

"Kouga, think about it. Do you really want to stain your reputation by doing this? Why not get someone else? Say...Inuyasha. Go finish this for us." She tone hardened as she walked further into lies she had wrapped around herself. She was a different person now. The Kagome of before no longer existed, and this proved it. No longer would she be the weakling being picked on. Now she could be the one lording over the weak.

Inuyasha gave her a scathing look of pure disgust. Then he spat on the hand that had been holding hers; wiping it on his pants. Then he turned and walked away. The crowd parted to let him through, a murmur rising throughout.

Kouga smiled at her, just as the girl's face fell. No one noticed as she inwardly flinches as Kouga gave her a peck on the cheek, whispering, "That's my women. But now I have some dirt to take care of, excuse me." He left with his group of friends flanking him. One of the boys, though, hesitated, casting a indescribable look at the girl who had defended Jenenji. She wasn't sure, but Kagome thought she heard him whisper Sango.

The girl turned away. "Miroku!" Kouga called. "You coming or what?"

"Yeah," he replied, still staring. "Yeah, I am." He turned and left.

Kagome's friends tugged at her. "You're _too_ nice sometimes, Kags."

She told them to wait a bit. "I want to talk with...the girl." Her friends frowned, but let her take the girl aside. The crowd slowly dispersed; no one bothering to help the boy who had originally been picked on. "You okay?" she asked the girl.

"No, I'm not," she replied coldly. "You're just as bad as that jerk." The girl lifted her hand, as if to slap her. Kagome flinched away. The girl, Sango, laughed bitterly. "No, you're worse. Worse because you know you're doing this despite your conscience. I think you've been through what I'm going through before; but you do it anyway. To feel wanted; needed. Special. _Accepted_. Accepted by fucking attention-grabbers who put people down just to make themselves feel better. But let me tell you something Miss Reputable, you're scum just like everyone else whose like you in this damn world, and you're going to stay scum.

"Your little toy—Inuyasha, was he?—at least he had some feeling. You don't deserve everything you have now; flaunting your money and lineage. You never did and you never will." With that, she walked away, tossing her long pony tail into Kagome's face. Kagome cringed inside. She wanted to be able to go to a quiet corner and shrivel up. Was everything the girl said true? Was she really that kind of person now? The ones she had hated and despised and ranted against just a year ago?

Yuka rounded the corner. "Kags, don't listen to fools like her. She's probably on some sort of medication or something." She let her friends escort her to WacDonalds, still in a daze. She looked behind her one more time and saw the girl help the Jenenji up, warily telling off those who dared to stare. She never was that brave, even when she had been in that position. No, she never had been in that position, sure of where she was. Instead of standing up to everyone, she had been a coward. But she didn't care anymore. She could be scum, as long as someone accepted her. Unconsciously, Kagome wrapped her arms around herself. Her friends exchanged looks.

...............................

She didn't know where he'd gone, for he didn't return to class for the rest of the school day, but Inuyasha was waiting in his car after school. Still lost in thought, they drove home in the lingering silence. No one banged the door open that day; no one rushed up the stairs. Instead, they separated and didn't see each other until that night.

Inuyasha was brooding in the kitchen, half scaring the cook. He didn't even accept the Ramen the cook had prepared for him. What kind of person was Kagome that she'd help with things like that? True, he might not have been very popular or liked in his old school, but everybody left him alone and he was never involved in anything even remotely like that.

_What kind of person am I?_ he wondered. He searched and found no reason to why he hadn't pulled away when Kagome had latched on to his hand at lunch. He had smelled her shock at first, then fear, then anger. But why hadn't she followed through with that anger? Because the next moment she was all disgust. At herself? At Kouga? At the girl and the boy? Inuyasha settled on the last, convinced by her reaction.

He stayed there for a while, finally eating the Ramen at the cook's worried urges. At the end, he decided to try to get the homework assignments he'd missed that afternoon from Kagome.

The door to her room was unlocked, and he expected her to be done with homework and talking to a friend on the phone or something. But whatever he expected, it wasn't a shriveled girl huddled in the corner, stifled sobs tearing at her. _Damn. The maids at the door should have warned me._

He hated when people cried, especially women. So she felt bad after all...Awkwardly, he moved across the room, reaching out as if to comfort her. But as he almost touched her, he pulled back and instead, wrote down the homework scattered on the ground. With one last confused look at her, he left.

Kagome lifted her head as he left, her makeup running horribly. Tears smudged her face, giving her a wild look. She had heard Inuyasha enter, felt his head as he almost reached out to her, but then he had pulled back. _Am I really that disgusting? Yes, _some part of her answered. _You're worse than disgusting._

Outside, Inuyasha leaned his head against the wall. At home, it was only his dad and his brother. His mother never cried anymore; at least not within his knowledge. What was he supposed to do with this human girl? At the end, curiosity won out and he decided to find out more about her in that hidden room.

The same codes were given, the same passwords unlocked. But this time, instead of the Diary, he opened another folder: Clips. The first of the articles shocked him.

* * *

That was an emotion-filled chapter to write. Please don't hate me too much, but **review** anyway, kay? We've pretty much hit the climax of the story...hey, I guess I did manage to fit Miroku and Sango in after all. I wonder if I can recycle Kikyo. Nah. That'd be too much stress on the plot. Wow, I wrote 11 pages today...So we have 4 more chapters left. 

Once again, I'm still looking for judges...please? 

protege.just-in-dreams.com 

-Vii


	5. Blackmail Material

**Genuine Fake**  
by Viitoria

Chapter Five: Blackmail Material

* * *

Clips of things hidden away greeted him sore eyes. Things that never should have happened, that were beyond what anyone should have gone through. Every file was dated a year ago, meaning a fifteen year old girl did all this. Didn't she have any feeling at all? After all, it was to her own flesh and blood... 

More clicks and new windows were brought up, showcasing the files and lawyers father and daughter presses against abuse for Kagome. Apparently, the girl's mother would not back down and give the father custody of her daughter. Inuyasha wondered why, if the girl was so troublesome in the first place.

Other articles described the charges pressed. None told what happened to her mother and brother. It was just too much information for someone to digest. _God, _he thought in horror, _she even tried to sue them._ Then he paused, examining the said information a bit closer. Who issued that? It wasn't Kagome; her name didn't appear, only her mother's. Or did it? In the bottom corner, where it should have said the person, had been blacked out. _So the bitch was smart enough to pull this off and keep it secret, huh?_

Inuyasha thought back to the new article he had found the job from. It released only information the Higurashi's had wanted to release, putting Kagome forth as a lonely girl to be pitied. Inuyasha extracted his cell phone from his pockets, dialing a long unused number.

"Myoga, I have a case for you that you might find a bit of a challenge. You willing to take it?—Good. The Higurashi's—the father's a successful lawyer—No, I don't know if he was the one who conned the governor into his position—why would I know that, fleabag? You're the lawyer here.

"—Yeah, yeah. I have files for you. The computer's heavily passworded and isn't connected to the 'net—yeah, I guess I could burn a copy—No, the daughter!—Idiot—why do you need to know why I'm asking?—Yes, I'm in their house. Yes, I've broken into something I'm not supposed to, and yes, I'm running out of time. Are you taking the fucking case or not?—Thank you!" He snapped his phone shut. He had forgotten how harrying on the nerves talking to their family lawyer was.

But it was all worth it if he could expose that _fake_ airhead for who she really was. And to think he was that close to getting to be able to tolerate her. He held her hand! Then she threw it all back in his face. Then Kouga had come after him; did she know how embarrassing it was to lose to the wolf-youkai _in front of all his friends_? Inuyasha was purely and truly disgusted. So why did he feel so bad about doing this?

...............................

Kagome was in a good mood the next morning, and she was convinced no one could spoil it. Yesterday was all but forgotten and the night before she had stayed up listening her entire collection of j-pop. But how wrong she was. Donning her uniform, she found everything put away in her backpack, like always. With a smile on her face, she ran down; Inuyasha wouldn't have to yell at her to come down today. Only, he was the one who was late today.

"Inuyasha!" She called.

No one answered, but she saw the hanyou descend the stairs, all articles of the uniform in place. He brushed past her to the car without so much as a word of exchange. She shrugged and followed. Like she said, nothing could break her mood.

In the car, no words were offered, only an awkward silence filling the space where once insults might have been traded. She couldn't put a finger on it, but it just didn't feel right. Did he watch the news that last time, too? After all, she did have a tv in her bedroom. She decided to ask. "Did you watch the news that one night?"

He turned her, one hand dropping off the steering wheel. "Why would I want to watch the news?"

_He didn't snap at me. There's something wrong,_ she confirmed. "Because it was interesting?" she tried. Probably wouldn't work anyway; it had come out a question.

"Look, _girl_, I don't care what you watch or what think is interesting, okay? I'm just going to make one thing clear: I'm only staying on with this godamn-fucking job because of the contract. If I could, I would tear it up; but unlike you, I actually care about my rep." With that number said, he turned back to driving, leaving an amazed Kagome staring.

It took her a few minutes to regain her dignity, but when she did, she muttered something under her breath. "Like you have a reputation." His ears twitched her way, but he ignored her.

At school, he hung a few steps behind her the entire time while she talked with her friends. It freaked her out a bit, but she was distracted too by Yuka and Ayumi's strange behavior. They kept on looking around them, as if afraid to be caught by someone. Just like Inuyasha's behavior, though, she didn't press it much.

Kouga tried to talk to her in the morning, but she found that she couldn't really pay attention. It didn't help that he tried to bait Inuyasha every few minutes, but the hanyou didn't respond. "Kouga," she finally spoke up. "It's almost time for class; I got to go now, kay?" She reached up on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek dutifully. She turned around and caught Inuyasha staring. When he saw that she had seen him, he quickly pulled his gaze back to the ground again.

She frowned, but let her words drop. In the classroom, even the teachers were surprised. Inuyasha, while not a trouble student, had a tendency to make loud, sarcastic remarks catching everything from the smallest mistakes the teacher's lecture had. Just the other day during an important English exam, he had whispered something loudly to Kagome about the how he never learned half the things on the test. Naturally, the teacher, angry, had stormed up to him and asked him exactly what he didn't get. By then, he hadn't even bothered to be discreet about it, and blatantly pointed every single word misusage. "I won't even get into the verbs," he had muttered. It was such a sight to see the teacher flustered that the test never really got finished.

But not today. Today, Inuyasha was obedient to the point of being polite; and if that didn't confuse everyone, nothing would. But then again, he didn't seem to really be paying attention.

Then, the period before lunch, and the one after, she had caught him staring at her again. Did he like her?

She could tell the servants were disturbed at his behavior as well. The maids gossiped more than usual; the butler began opening the doors again—no one had slammed the door open for a while now. But the cook was the one who was most worried when Inuyasha refused his Ramen and instead ate the most expensive things he could find in the kitchen. He didn't even raid the place anymore.

For almost a week things continued as they did, until she finally decided to try again on Friday. "Hey, Inuyasha, I'm going on a date with Kouga tonight, kay?" She saw with amusement as his eyes snapped back into focus as he glared. He opened his mouth, but upon second thought, closed it again. Then he reverted back to his faraway expression.

"That's good. Have fun." She frowned. What was wrong with him? She hadn't even caught a trace of sarcasm in that remark, just manifest disregard. She didn't even really have a date with Kouga. Which only reminded her on how few time she did get together with her supposed boyfriend. And those time were just so he could show her off. _Inuyasha wouldn't do that to me, _she thought. _He would_—she caught herself just in time. First off, she didn't like the guy (not to mention the fact that he was basically hired help, good family or not). Second, she was more than sure he didn't like her. Another part of her protested. _What about all the times you caught him staring today?_

Shaking herself free of such disturbing thoughts, she slipped out the door to find some place that she could stay until her 'date' with Kouga ended.

Unknown to her, Inuyasha had been waiting all week for such a thing to happen. The girl had slept in her regular room the whole week, casting him strange looks. He deemed it irritating, but didn't say anything. He knew his silence pissed off his 'employer' more than anything else. "I'm touched that you're worried," he muttered to the wall, then hand clasping chest, he mimed heartbreak to the empty space around him. "What the hell am I doing?" he asked himself and pushed of the pink carpet on which he had been seated.

Punching the codes in once again, he hacked into the computer.

...............................

Mr. Higurashi was sitting at his desk, lost in thought over the predicament of family when the monitor beside him beeped alert. He glanced up. It was only the machine telling him that Kagome had gone into her 'secret' computer to type in her diary again. He returned to work.

After a while, he paused and returned to the screen, remembering something. Kagome had left just a few minutes ago on a date; she had informed him herself with yet another peck on the cheek. Women. But who would...? Putting his pen down on the desk, he buzzed his secretary in. "Turn on the security monitor for Kagome's room for me, will you?"

In the corner, another LCD monitor turned on, running a picture of his daughter's room. No one was there. Studying it closely, he panned the camera with the controller so it faced the door. It was closed, and from the angle of the knob, locked, too. That meant someone was in the room. He moved the camera to face the bookshelf. It had been slid open, and the coding door slightly ajar.

Walking over to his voice box again, he pressed the little red button. "Now the one for the Room," he instructed. The monitor beside the previous one flashed on as well.

"What do we have here?—Takagi." His suspicions confirmed, he returned to his own computer. With some tapping of keys and a few clicks, he had brought up a window displaying all files accessed on the Room. The diary had been opened, multiple time...once in the middle of the night, the rest in early morning. The other files, which he knew her daughter never looked at, had been searched through multiple times. "Well, well," he mused aloud. "That young Takagi certainly knows his way around computers." The boy had even managed to extract a copy of the documents.

"Smart, aren't you boy? But there is no way I'm going to let you leave with all that." He called his secretary again, this time to bring him the contract papers the hanyou had signed. He smiled as he read through them. "Guess he's stuck with us for a bit more, huh?" He could afford to let Kagome deal with this; after all his daughter wouldn't react well to someone reading her diary, no? Naraku had informed her that she had called him the other day to look up everything on one Inuyasha Takagi. What he dug up and a mine in blackmail materials. His daughter was a chip off the old block, all right.

He sat back and waited patiently for the sound of her new Porsche to pull into on of the garages.

It had taken a while for her to find something to do, but Kagome finally found the perfect thing: the movies. After all, who could resist a subtitled new released from America? She had gone through a bag of popcorn, a Pepsi and killed two and an half hours on her 'date', while managing to have fun. _I really should get out more by myself, _she thought. _Or maybe I could pull Inuyasha along next time, too._

Climbing out of the car, she approached the main door. Reaching for the knob to open it, she was again surprised as it swung open for her. In the short weeks that Inuyasha had been with her, she'd gotten used to opening her own doors again. "Oh, thanks," she muttered to the butler, who stared at her like she had grown an extra head.

"The master would like to speak to you in his office, miss," he informed her. She nodded and kicked off her heels, heading upstairs. Was she in trouble? Her father almost never asked for her. He only came when he wanted to; or when she decided she needed some parent around. Sometimes she thought he didn't care enough._ Mom always butted into my business_, she assured herself. Only she didn't quite believe...

She tried opening the door again, but the secretary beat her to it. Sticking her tongue out, she brushed past the annoying woman. She opened the inner office door, and this time, she finally managed it. "Dad? Did you call?"

He looked up and nodded. "Yes, yes." He motioned to the seat. "Do take a seat, dear."

She obliged and sat in the large seat across from him, feeling strangely like one of those clients he scrutinized before taking on a case, or refusing it. "So..." she started, trying to get him to talk. Silences were always awkward between them.

"Well, have you been getting up at midnight to write in that diary of yours?" he finally asked.

Her brow furrowed; why would he ask that? "No, why?"

"Then you might want to see this." She got up and walked around hurriedly; if anyone was reading her diary...She stared at the window. It informed her that her computer had been hacked into much more than she'd used in since. She froze. _Since Inuyasha got here._

"You think it's him?" she asked.

"Better yet," her father replied steadily. "I know it's him. Come here, look at that monitor." She followed his finger to the LCD screen and stared. Her first reaction was annoyance at her father for installing cameras in her room as well as the other one. Her second was disbelief. Inuyasha wouldn't do that. Would he? _That's why he was acting so strange this last week. That jerk! _But strangely enough, anger didn't come just yet. She did, however, feel a pit in the bottom of her stomach.

She watched as the hanyou shut down the machine, moving out. "Well?" her father prodded. "Aren't you going to eat him out?"

"I doubt he's going to taste all that good, Dad," she remarked. Rubbing her temples, she closed her eyes. "I have a migraine just now, I'm going to deal with him when my head lets me think better. Plus, we don't have any real witnesses and I'm betting you didn't have that on tape yet. I'll catch him in the act next time."

"That's my girl," her dad cheered.

What came out of Kagome's mouth next was something she always wanted to say to Kouga every time, but never really said out loud. An automatic reaction due to tiredness, she supposed afterwards. "Shut up, Kouga. I'm an _not_ your girl."

Her dad stared after her. "Excuse me, Kagome, but would you care to repeat that?"

Realizing that it was her dad, she stopped and turned around. "I'm sorry dad! I thought you were Kouga, and it just came out of my mouth."

"Hmm. Isn't Kouga your boyfriend."

She fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well, yes, but..."

He chuckled. "It's alright. Go get some sleep; daddy needs to do some work." She nodded and continued out. "Oh, and you're brother's going to be visiting next week; legal circumstances," he added. Right then, her head was too clouded to fully take in the new information.

In the hallway heading towards her room, she saw Inuyasha. The two shared an equally icy stare for some moments, before the giggling of a pair of servant girls broke their revere. Staring at the ground, both passed each other in opposite directions.

The weekend passed as icily as Friday night, with the two in muted hatred at each other. Kagome went shopping, Inuyasha stood dutifully on the side, no snide remarks. She even took him to the movies as planned, but got dragged down by the double negative in the atmosphere.

Monday came around with almost explicit relief: she would be lost once again in the chaos of high school society and buried under the masses that was high school homework. Unfortunately, Monday morning also greeted her with another surprise.

"Souta?" She frowned when she came downstairs in her uniform to see her little brother eating breakfast at the big table with her father. She looked to her father in puzzlement.

He returned her look blankly. "I did say he was coming on Friday," was his only answer to her look. He tried to return to the conversation he had been having with his son, but the two siblings' attention were lost, staring at each other.

"Bitch, if you're not coming in the next thirty seconds, I'm going leave without you." Inuyasha had seemingly reverted to his old mood after the week of silence. Some good news had been left for him yesterday by Myoga. He rounded the corner and saw Kagome locked in stare with a boy of about 13 years. He also saw Mr. Higurashi, but he didn't say anything.

"Hey, Kagome!" He called again, almost grabbing her hand. That Mr. Higurashi really freaked him out sometimes, under the scrutinizing eyes of his _real_ employer, it was as if nothing could leave unscathed by his opinion. He snapped his fingers dangerously close to her open eyes when she still didn't respond.

"Huh?—oh, Inuyasha." She bit her lower lip and tore away from her little brother. "Hi."

"Hi?" The hanyou replied with disbelief.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Not you, idiot. Souta. Hi!" she said with more exuberance. Inuyasha's better mood seemed to have a domino effect on hers as well. Apparently, it worked with Souta, too. The younger boy had turned his attention away from his big sister to her bodyguard.

He slacked his posture and leaned on the chair back. "Nice ears," he remarked, trying to seem older in every way. Kagome sniggered and went forward to give him a hug, the ice broken.

"Hey!" he protested. "I'm thirteen now, girl; give a guy some space."

She pulled away and snorted in an extremely unladylike way. "You and Inuyasha should get along real well." Changing the topic quickly before the said person could respond, she added, "So how long are you going to be staying here?"

"A week or so," he answered.

Kagome nodded. "Kay. You going to go to school?"

"Yeah, but after you. Dad said he could drop me off in the limo!"

She smiled and waved at him. "Okay, then. I'm going to go before Inuyasha leaves without me." She grabbed the hanyou's hand again and pulled him out the door before any old feelings resurfaced at full impact and got into the drivers seat. In all the confusion, Inuyasha didn't even really notice that she had been 'leached on' to him again, as he put it privately.

Inside, Mr. Higurashi frowned. Was it just him or had those two gotten back to normal again? No, that wouldn't do...He would just have to remind his daughter the things the hanyou had read. "Souta, starting tomorrow, Inuyasha and Kagome are going to drop you off at school and pick you up, alright?"

* * *

There was my first plot-twist, on the way to stretching out the story. Yes, I've decided to make this circa. 12 chapters instead of 8. You guys better be appreciating this. In other news, I'm going to go on a long camping trip for the July 4th weekend, so no updates until next Wednesday or Thursday. Sorry! 

-Vii

P.S. Remember, I'm still looking for judges for http:protege.just-in-dreams.com


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